Thursday, May 31, 2012

It dawned normally – slowly Sun came out on what was to be
another scorching hot day; the Sunset would also be as normal as ever.. Chennai swelters in heat, no rain – some powercut
and people were anxious on the impact of the call by the opposition – their
concern was whether there would be any impact on public transportations,
whether auto rickshaws will ply and continue to fleece them….. things looked as
normal as ever as one travelled to Office this morning.

If you wonder, or did not know –
today is ‘Bharat Bandh’ – the unprecedented hike in petrol prices has
helped the Left and the right to make common cause tomorrow for a nationwide
protest, described by BJP and its allies as Bharat Bandh and by Left as all India
protest day.

Bandh is a Hindi word meaning 'closed', is a form of protest used
by political activists. When Bandh is
declared the protagonists want the life to come to a standstill and for doing
that transportation would have to be stopped and shops and establishments
closed. A couple of decades, most were
State run and anything against the State would paralyse the normal life. It was extremely powerful means of civil
disobedience and protest against the actions of the Govt. One of the more famous Bharat Bandh was
organized in Aug 1989, when Rajiv Gandhi was in power. As the opposition resorted to stoppage of
public transportation and threatened the shops to close [cinema theatres also
would remain closed – as also hotels], the Govt did all that was in its power
to break the bandh. Curiously, the PSU
employees were asked to attend Office and to facilitate their attendance they
were allowed to report to their nearest branch – it was mockery of work – an
employee working in a Branch going to another Branch was only symbolic
attendance – no functional work took place that day.

Just as the Opposition claimed that the Bharat Bandh was a
success, the Govt. on its part claimed that it had dissipated into a non event
as people attended Offices !!

This bandh [31st May 2012] is the coming
together of BJP, Left and other non-Congress parties. Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which
is supporting the UPA goverment from outside, has also given the bandh call
tomorrow so has BJD in Odisha. In Tamilnadu, the situation is always bizarre
and is unlikely to have any major effect.
AIADMK has staged protests and so did DMK on its own in which dramatic
statements and veiled threats were
made to pull out of the UPA.

Political parties try to score some brownie points and now
a days bandhs do not get any visual results.
Parties would announce that its leaders will take part in rallies in
public meetings – bigger leaders would turn up cautiously weighing the mood of
the public, which these days is lukewarm response at best. The rewards are illusory for the Organisers
as also those whom they expect would join these form of protests. Sadly such protests hit the people working in
the unorganised sector most as their day’s wage might get lost for no fault of
theirs. The Communists who claim to
represent the worker, wage earner and unorganized sector would do nothing on
this count.

Hours after making a statement that he would pull out of
the UPA government if it continued with its anti-people policies, DMK leader
Karunanidhi backtracked saying that he never threatened to quit.

“We can’t say we will quit if there is no rollback of
petrol prices. We never threatened to pull out of the UPA. Communal forces will
enter government if we quit” he said, at a hastily convened press conference in
Chennai. Earlier Karunanidhi created a
media frenzy when he said, ““If this government continues to violate the
fundamental principles of the Dravidian movement, we will have no hesitation in
separating from the UPA alliance”.

There were times, when call for Bandh threatened to
immobilize and paralyse the way of life of commoners but over the years Indian
democracy has matured and it is time, the political parties too learn their way
in finding out newer ways of channelling
popular sentiments without causing economic losses and inflicting misery on
common folks.

It is known to be a game of ‘intelligent people’ – has
class and culture. The World Championship was between a man born in 1969 – in
Foreign countries, he is known as ‘Vishy’ – which is not his name but that of
his fathers’. His father Vishwanathan was an Engineer and General Manager of
Southern Railway. Vishwanathan Anand started playing the game from the young
age of 6, never had a tutor and has done the Nation proud……..

His opponent now – Boris Gelfand is an year elder, born
in Minsk in to
a family of Engineers. In a match he was pondering almost 40 minutes for the opening
and later paid rich tributes to his opponent stating ‘ Vishy is not just an
excellent speed chess player – he’s an excellent player in all time controls!’.
You need to appreciate the great player who was not afraid to praise another
player, even when he was his opponent.

Very Happy news is that our own,Vishwanathan
Anand has retained the World Chess Championship defeating Boris Gelfand of Israel.

The World Chess Championship 2012 was a match between the
current world champion Viswanathan Anand of India
and Boris Gelfand of Israel,
winner of the Candidates tournament. The tourney took place from May 10 to 30,
2012, in the EngineeringBuilding of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The prize fund was
approximately 2.5 million US dollars. The match format was 12 games, with the
first game on May 11. The normal FIDE tiebreak protocol was in place: should the
match be tied 6-6 tie-breaks, rapid games were to be played, if still tied, then
blitz games, and finally an Armageddon game if needed. In the initial set of 12
matches, the players tied after six fairly short draws.

Gelfand drew first blood in game seven, in which Anand
made some provocative or inaccurate moves and Gelfand held a commanding
position. The very next day, revenge was had in game eight when Gelfand got his
queen trapped on move 17--the shortest loss in WCC history! Then after four
more draws, the match headed into overtime. Known for his prowess at rapid
play, Anand was the clear favorite going into tie-breaks. After a victory in
the second rapid game, and two more draws, Viswanathan Anand defended his title
once again. Vishy has been holding the title since 2007. He last defended his
title by winning the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov.

After the tie in the 12 games, Anand today
[30.5.12] retained the World Chess
Championships title, his fifth crown and fourth in a row, after beating Israel's Boris
Gelfand in a tense rapid game tie-breaker here today. Anand beat Gelfand
2.5-1.5 in rapid chess tie-breaker. The first game of the tiebreaker ended in a
draw in 33 moves before Anand beat Gelfand in the second game in 77 moves. The
two of the remaining four-game rapid chess tie-breaker ended in a draw as Anand
successfully defended his world championship title for the third time in a row.

This was 42-year-old Anand's fifth World Championships
title and fourth crown in a row. The Indian chess wizard bagged his first world
title in 2000 before winning three in a row in 2007, 2008 and 2010. He has been
the world champion since 2007.

Today 30th May 2012, is
certainly a very happy day to all Indians, Chess fans and fans
of Vishwanathan Anand

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

If you have been watching Tennis for more than a
decade now, you sure would have seen her stream-rolling past her opponents in
grand style and winning title after title. Age, state of health, surface, opponent –
nothing mattered as Serena Williams would ruthlessly decimate her opponents –
she has always won her 1st round at all Grand Slam with ease and ……..
‘old order changeth’ – she suffered a shocking loss in the 1st round
to a 111 ranked player at a ground named after an early French aviator and
fighter pilot of WW 1.

Serena Jameka Williams has occupied the No. 1 spot for long. She became the world no. 1 for the first time
on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2,
2009. She is the only female player to
have won over $35 million in prize money.
She has 27 Grand Slam titles - 13
in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. Besides, she has also won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles

file photo of Serena

One of the most dominant players of modern era,
she went down to the unheard 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France – in the
match she came within two points of victory nine times, yet remarkably failed
to close the deal. The 23 minute final
game with 30 points was most exciting but not the desired end for her fans. Razzano
finally won after a marathon 3 hours and 3 minutes play. Before this match, Serena had a clean 46 off
46 in the Opening rounds in Tennis top venues – so clinically routine that she
would only win. – and that was not to be
this time, a stunning defeat of 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss to Razzano at Roland Garros.

May be the fall has a lot to do with her state
of health as she returned to action last year after missing about 10 months
because of a series of health scares, including two foot operations. The one who has always made news of winning
has made news with shock exit for the first time in a Grandslam career
extending from 1998 when she was just 16.
Maria Sharapova won 6-0, 6-0, and Rafael Nadal
began his bid for a record seventh French Open championship with a 6-2, 6-2,
6-1 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli. Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie
Mattek-Sands, seeded 15th, were packed off 3-6, 6-4, 5-7 by the
Russian-Romanian pair of Nina Bratchikova and Edina Gallovits-Hall in the
opening round.

French Open, the premier clay court tournament named after the famous French aviator Roland
Garros, is held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France,
at the Stade Roland Garros.

The winner - Virginie Razzano has a distress
story. Razzano paid tribute to the man
who had been both her coach and partner for the past nine years; Razzano’s
fiance — Stephane Vidal, also her longtime coach — died at age 32 of a brain
tumor in May 2011, a little more than a week before her first-round match at
last year’s French Open.

Demand and Supply are the fundamental concepts of Economics
and basics of market economy. Demand,
simply is how much (quantity) of a product or service is required by buyers. Supply
on the otherhand, is how much (quantity) is available for sale – there of
course would be other variants like the price, the place, the period, substitutes,
changes and more…

Demand is price-relative – it is how much of
quantity the market desires at a given price. Supply represents how much the
market is willing to offer at the given price. The correlation between price and how much of
a good or service is supplied to the market is known as the supply
relationship. Price, therefore, is a reflection of supply and demand. The law
of demand states that, if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price
of a good, the less people will demand that good. In other words, the higher
the price, the lower the quantity demanded. When it comes to Supply, the higher the price, the higher the quantity
supplied. Producers supply more at a higher price because selling a higher
quantity at a higher price increases revenue. That would not apply to essentials – even here, on a longer
period, the market forces would try to stabilize. Even for an essential commodity, people might strive to consume
less and use less, if the price goes upward steeply.

Dr Manmohan Singh is a very learned person and he has
tossed the market theories in his own manner………
the petrol prices went up, immediately, people would start speaking of
not taking their vehicles out, pooling vehicles, going by public transports and
more plans – theoretically, the steepest price hike ever should have driven
people away and there should have been a situation where supply exceeds demands
– thereby more available in the market.. Whosoever’s design it was – there was
artificial demand – made acute by the panic reaction.. even after the price
increase the petrol was not available, and people madly stood in queues
fighting for a bottle of petrol at much higher prices at some places !!!! – now
if you are still on a queue or have been thinking of running away from office
in the middle in search of a petrol bunk where the fuel is available…………… wait….
(if only you can)

The good news is that 2 tankers carrying diesel and petrol have docked at the Chennai port on Tuesday [29/5/12] and a
third set to steam in today. The vessel
of IOC with 26,000 kilolitres of diesel, reached the city before noon on
Tuesday and began offloading its consignment.
Meantime, Chief minister J Jayalalithaa convened a meeting of officials
and later said retail supply of fuel would resume by midnight. The second vessel with capacity of 18000 kl of
diesel would start pumping out soon today. The third
one, a smaller one, carrying 6,000 kilolitres of diesel is expected to arrive
today evening. ChennaiPort has only one berth
for oil consignments. The chief minister
said 2,000 kilolitres of diesel would also be brought to the city from Bangalore by road. So the situation would ease soon and petrol
would be available more easily after all the chaos.

More than that, it appears that after the steepest hike, State-run
oil marketing companies are ready to cut the price of the fuel by about Rs 1.67
per litre on 1 June when they undertake a ‘price review’, according to a report
in The Economic Times. As has happened
in the past, the price rice would be corrected in shorter span – a tactics of
appearing to provide some relief by loading too high and then removing
something small later !!!

It is another factor that the first justification every
time has been that the State run Companies are incurring huge losses by heavy
subsidies and supplies at a controlled rate !!. Factually, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)
reported a jump of 3.24 times in standalone net profit to Rs 126.70 billion for
the quarter ended March 31, 2012 as compared to Rs 39.05 billion in the same
period last year. For the year ended Mar. 31, 2012, it has posted 46.03%
decreased in consolidated net profit to Rs 42.25 billion as compared to Rs
78.30 billion for the year ended March 31, 2011. Still Oil Companies, Ministry and ruling Govt
while about losing money in selling fuel. Remember all these profits comes after the
mindless spending in advertisements and promotions and the high management
costs of the Corporation. Again a portion of this profit is aided by cash
subsidies and payments from other state-run companies to compensate for the
losses made from selling fuel at below-market prices. There are reports that BPCL’s profit nearly
quadrupled to Rs 3,963 crore. HPCL’s net profit also jumped more than 300
percent to Rs 4,631 crore from a year ago. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC),
despite its subsidy-sharing burden, also managed to post a 102 percent jump in
net profit to Rs 5,644 crore for the January-March quarter.

You may never understand the ground reality – it is not
Rs.xx hike in petrol that the aamadmi suffers – it would hit him everywhere he
goes – the commodities and vegetables will be up stating petrol hike, even non-related thing like rent might go up –
one has to grin and bear. Petrol is not subsidized
but this hike will push more people towards diesel, which is subsidized by
Govt. The Govt. has gone on record that it has no
intention of hiking the prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene (which are bigger
problems than petrol in terms of subsidies) in the near future.

As you count the holes in your pocket due to the petrol
hike, know that nearly 40 percent of the price of petrol is made up of taxes by
the centre and the states. Centre wants
the States to reduce the VAT to provide some relief ! Firstpost
reports that Central Govt. levies a fixed excise duty of about Rs 14.78 per
litre of petrol. States impose an ad valorem (value-added) tax, which increases
every time the price of the fuel increases. Among the States, the BJP ruled Goa is different – it is the only State to have slashed
sales tax dramatically in recent months: A few months ago, it cut nearly its
entire tax on petrol, making the fuel cheaper by Rs 11 per litre.

So whether it is Centre, State or Oil Companies – all unduly
benefit by every price increase……… if the rates are determined by market
forces, that is determined by what they buy, why is that there has never been a
steep reduction in price, when the crude oil barrel rates went down in
International market. The political game
continues, and more people are out there in the hot Sun, standing in serpentine
queue waiting for their turn for a bottle of petrol at inflated price !!!!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Mostly the prices of articles or services go
up and we end up paying more for the same year after the year. Insurance product is not so – effectively the
market forces pull the rates down and all Insurers are suffering the down
syndrome – the falling prices and end up collecting much lesser premium for the
same risk or even for a higher Sum Insured than that of last year. In such a scenario, how would any Insurer react
to a premium of around Rs.2.62 crores !!!!!!!!

Before you try to locate that source of
business, Dinka is an ethnic group inhabiting the a region in the Nile basin. They are mainly agripastoral people, relying
on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet and
other varieties of grains. This man belonging to Dinka clan ethnic group
moved from his birth place to Egypt
to escape civil war. Since birth, he has
lived in Egypt, UK and USA. He is a famous sportsperson - represented England at Under-16 and Under-19
level, and is an ambassador for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In October 2006,
he became a naturalised British citizen
in a ceremony in Croydon and was called up to play in European competition for
the Great Britain
team.

He is Luol Deng, 27 years of age, a
professional basketball player for the
National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls and the Great Britain national basketball
team. He plays the small forward position. He was selected to his first All
Star game during the 2011–12 NBA season, joining teammate Derrick Rose. He was born in what is now South Sudan, Deng
fled the country with his family as a child, moving to Egypt and then the United Kingdom, becoming a British
citizen in 2006. The amount that read
represents the insurance premium that is to be paid to ensure his participation
in Olympics which the Britain's
basketball chiefs have vowed to cover !!!!

No doubt it is not the normal premium for
any other Star and seemingly is high cost insurance for the Chicago Bulls star.
Deng has been nursing a wrist injury for
the closing months of the NBA season, a pre-existing condition which means his
lucrative $27-million-dollar contract is not covered by the league's insurance
during the Olympics. That would only
mean that British Basketball will have
to find around £300,000 pounds to insure Deng for the games this summer,
according to some reports -an enormous amount for the relatively cash-strapped
governing body. British Basketball has
already in the past paid additional insurance to cover an old back injury
sustained by Deng, but cash for the new premium will have to be found by
diverting resources from other programmes, officials said.

It is stated that Luol Deng is hugely
committed to the British Basketball programme and he has maintained this
stance, despite recent pressure for him not to play after injuring his wrist during
the highly-demanding shortened NBA season.
Authorities of the British Basketball stated that they admire and
support the player’s stance and the fact that Luol has been managing his body
extremely well, as revealed by the high amount of minutes he was able to play
for his club after sustaining the injury in January this year.

The Basketball authority spokesperson is
quoted as saying "We pride ourselves on having an expert medical team for
all our players and he will receive the best possible care when he is with us.
Our world-leading staff are now widely known and accepted in the greater
basketball community and we have worked very hard to build this reputation over
the last six years. "The insurance
to cover Luol is always expensive due to his high value, and due to the back
exclusion placed on him by the NBA's insurers some years ago. "Our medical expert opinion remains that
his back is no worse than others in the NBA but we have had to continue to
cover this as we are contracted to do.

The injured wrist situation has made the
already exorbitant premium even more
expensive but Britain in basketball circles is not big and as a emerging Nation
wants that Luol Deng must play at any cost and hence willing to pick up the
costs of additional insurance. Some in
social media have tweeted suggestions that Luol Deng, with an annual salary in excess of
£10 million, should pay the £300,000
insurance money currently being demanded by the Chicago Bulls if he
wants to play in the Olympics but Sports
authorities feel that Deng has already made enough sacrifices for Great Britain.
Deng has been there in UK
for the past 5 years except 2009 and has cut down his rest time to play for the
minnows of world basketball. The authorities
are also categorically clear that there can be a notion that some can be
wealthy enough to buy their way into a National team.

Though NBA has its own insurance programme,
Deng has been identified as one of NBA’s high risk list of players and hence
the expensive additional cost which the British Basketball is now willing to
bear. That is the way some Countries
nurture and strategise their plans for medals or high performance in specific
Sports.

At a personal level, Luol Deng has been
associated with numerous charities, including UK children's charity School Home
Support and Lost Boys of Sudan and other
refugees. He is also a spokesperson for the World Food Programme.

The countdown to London Olympics 2012 has
already begun in some circles

Oil companies last week raised the price of petrol by Rs
7.50 per litre. The petrol price in Chennai went up to Rs 77.53 per litre. In Economics, when prices go up, demand would
decrease. The city presents an ugly
sight with massive crowds queuing up for hours to get little fuel – people
becoming restless and fighting with others, as tempers fray. Here, people are struggling to get the
goods even at a higher prices, even where they are prepared to pay more than
the risen price. The City has plunged in
to a deep crisis. After the steep petrol
hike, there have been assurances that diesel prices still would not go up. In a piquant situation, most petrol bunks
have run dry or [in fact] have stopped dispensing – strange because – diesel is
not sold as traders still expect a rise in price and perhaps are hoarding for
making gain; petrol is not being indented as some partial roll-back in prices
is expected.

Photo courtesy : Hindu
Businessline.

End result is commotion – long and winding serpentine queues
in front of the few open Petrol bunks – frayed tempers, fisticuffs, heated
exchange – all on hot days with city already suffering from power cut……. What
an ordeal for the common man.. petrol prices have gone up by Rs.7.50; left with
no choice, common man has the mental make up to fill up the vehicles – there
sure would be spiraling prices – vegetables will go up citing hike in petrol
price, autos and vehicles [even ones running on diesel] would quote the
scripture for hiking the rates. It is
common in the city to watch petrol pumps announcing dry, open ones feeling
restive facing massive crowds with people queuing up with cans and bottles to
get petrol. It is a blame game - the
petrol pump associations are blaming oil companies for not supplying enough fuel,
oil companies have vehemently denied any shortage.

Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association President said there was shortage of supply of petrol
and diesel due to reported under production by the refineries. And there was a
peculiar justification stating the demand has risen ! – has that happened
overnight ? – and what logic that people buy more when prices have gone up ?? It is stated that there are penal provisions
and authorities can verify the stock and take action against hoarders.

It is stated that crowds at two petrol pumps at
Ekkaduthangal around 10 am caused a traffic backup stretching as far as the
Kathipara flyover. Unable to reach the
point of congestion from the Guindy side, traffic cops trying to clear the
roads said they had to rely on their colleagues from Ashok Nagar, where the
roads were empty, to track back and lend a hand. Similar scenes were heard all across the city. It is torrid, scorching heat, traffic jams
and pressure of how long would the fuel in the vehicle last !!

Slowly but surely, the diesel shortage would affect the
operation of Companies as most run on diesel generators due to frequent power
cuts. There are reports of BPCL planning to move an oil tanker to the Chennai
port tomorrow. Both IOCL and HPCL tankers are also expected to berth at Chennai
port by tomorrow and is expected to infuse 67,000 KL of diesel into city
pumps. Some opine that the unplanned
shutdown of one of the units of CPCL from April 27 to May 14 impacted
availability of diesel to a certain extent. The shutdown of MRPL between April
12 and 22 due to water shortage further impacted availability across the three
Southern States — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The Oil Companies have made a request to consumers not to
take more than their requirements and hoard diesel. Tamil Nadu, through the
Civil Supplies Department, is also
expected to carry out checks to ensure
that no hoarding takes place. One
shudders to think of what would happen if the State run Metropolitan Transport
Corporation runs short of diesel. A
Press release from the State-level coordinator for oil industry states that
State Govt convened a meeting and that three tanker vessels with fresh supplies
were expected to berth at Chennai port today [29.5.12] The spokesperson is quoted as stating that
there was no issue with petrol availability but there was some problem of dealers
insisting on combination of loads, as ordering a full tanker load (either
12,000 or 20,000 litres) of petrol alone entails a huge investment.

For motorists, however, the chaotic situation continues as
there is panic reaction, long serpentine queues, frayed tempers but no solution
immediately seen. Do you have a cycle
at home and is your place proximate enough ?

Elsewhere, after Kerala and Uttarakhand, Delhi
is the third to give the common man slight respite from the steepest-ever hike
in petrol prices – it is no reduction in any great measure; Delhi announced a 20% reduction in VAT which
will bring the rate by Rs.1.26 per litre.
– still Rs 71.92 a litre. However,
the capital will have to shell out more money for compressed natural gas (CNG)
which would cost more after a proposed levy of 5% tax in the Budget yesterday.

Cricket whether in its pristine Test format or the pyjama
T20 is enjoyable – but be clear IPL is Club Cricket has no National or State
leaning – Chennai Super Kings is a franchisee with Chennai based India Cements
owning it – otherwise it does not represent the State of Tamilnadu or the metropolis of Chennai. Some
seem to have some delusions still !

On Sunday
[27.5.12] in a thriller, little known Bisla helped KKR beat CSK in the finals
of IPL 5 - it stretched into night and
trying to keep awake, I waited to listen the post match interviews; the award
ceremony; expert views; may be ex-cricketers receiving cash purse and more…….. but
ended up seeing the theatrics of Shahrukh Khan, his acrobats, he applauding his
children, thanking his wife and keeping the mike for long. The great orator Sherry (Navjotsingh Sidhu)
ended up praising and speaking something un-understandable…….. being away from
the ordinary crowd is one’s mistake !!

Away at their home, Kolkatta is buzzing with happiness. Petrol hike or any other problems are common
man’s – elated at the KKR’s maiden title triumph, the West Bengal government
has announced that it will felicitate
the victorious city franchise in a ceremony at the EdenGardens. The CM, Mamata Banerjee is quoted as saying "This is a big achievement. The team from
the city has won and we are all proud of
that. Shah Rukh is our brand ambassador
and his team has won, so we want to felicitate the winners on behalf of the
state government”. The IPL champions
will also participate in a road show Tuesday starting from Hazra Crossing in
the south of the city and going to the state secretariat, the Writers'
Buildings. The show will culminate at the EdenGardens
where the felicitation ceremony will be organised. Many State Minsters are expected to
participate in this National event !!

This morning India
defeated Malaysia
3-2 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup which obviously would attract much lesser
attention. It is an annual international
men's field hockey tournament held in Malaysia. It began in 1983 as a
biennial contest. The tournament became an annual event after 1998, following
its growth and popularity. The tournament is named after the ninth Yang
di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia,
Sultan Azlan Shah, an avid fan of field hockey. The current champions are Australia, who won the title by defeating Pakistan in
2011 final.

Goalkeeper Bharat Chettri is leading the 18-member Indian
hockey team in the 21st Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Tournament being held at Ipoh, Malaysia
from May 24-June 3. The seven-nation tournament features Argentina,
Britain, India, South Korea,
Malaysia, New Zealand and Pakistan. Apart from hosts Malaysia, all
other teams shall be playing at the London Olympic Games in July. India
lost to NZ; beat South Korea;
lost to Britain and have now
beaten Malaysia.
India
will play Argentina on 30th
and Pakistan
on 31st May.

India have won the title on five earlier
occasions -- 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
Much is expected of Sandeep Singh, Ragunath, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra
Lakra, Chettri, Danish Mujtaba, Tushar Khandker.

Today, India bouncing back from Sunday`s loss to Great Britain, played a brisk game in a fast-paced encounter
and led from the start, but had to ward off Malaysia`s determined fightback. The highlight of the day was title favourites
Great Britain`s 2-3 shocking defeat at the hands of Argentina which has completely opened up the tournament. New Zealand
still leads the standings with nine points from three successive wins, while
both Argentina and India lie
second with six points from four matches each.

Danish Mujtaba deflected in Sarvanjit Singh`s shot into the
boards in the 10th minute and then Shivendra Singh sent a scorching grounder
into the boards from top of the circle in the next minute. India wasted a number of scoring chances as S K
Uthappa shot straight into goalkeeper Subramiam Kumar in the 16th minute and
then Yuvraj Walmiki shot wide after the ball was switched around in a brisk
counter-attack in the 26th minute. This
was Malaysia`s first loss in three outings, having drawn their previous two
matches.

May be they are speaking the truth – but yet it makes a sad
reading. Former India hockey captain and India`s
chef-de-mission for London Olympics Ajitpal Singh feels that it won`t be
possible for the current team to win any medal at the quadrennial extravaganza. India have qualified for the London Olympics
in February after a gap of eight years and the former players said a top-six
finish will be a good performance for the current team. Former Olympic gold medallist Zaffar Iqbal is
also of the opinion that a medal is a distant dream.

But to an ordinary devout Indian fan, these words
do not matter, as we hope against hope for a podium finish for India at the
Olympics. All the best to our National
Team

Monday, May 28, 2012

Sad, the strike by pilots of national carrier Air India continued
for the 21st day today [28th May 2012] mounting losses to more than
Rs 300 crore (about $55 mn).

The Aviation industry in India for long has been considered to be one of the
fastest growing sectors globally. The sector has undergone rapid transformation
since the liberalization drive that began in the earlier half of the decade. In 1932, JRD Tata founded Tata Airline, the
first Indian airline. At the time of independence, nine air transport companies
were carrying both air cargo and passengers.In early 1948, Government of India
established a joint sector company, Air India International Ltd in
collaboration with Air India
(earlier Tata Airline) with a capital of Rs 2 crore and a fleet of three
Lockheed constellation aircraft. The Government nationalized nine airline
companies vide the Air Corporations Act, 1953. These government-owned airlines
dominated Indian aviation industry till the mid-1990s. In April 1990, the
Government adopted open-sky policy and allowed air taxi- operators to operate
flights from any airport, both on a charter and a non charter basis and to
decide their own flight schedules, cargo and passenger fares.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation of the
Government of India is the nodal Ministry responsible for the formulation of
national policies and programmes for development and regulation of Civil
Aviation and for devising and implementing schemes for the orderly growth and
expansion of civil air transport.

It was to be a marriage of convenience – but has
irked all partners – going terribly wrong. Years ago, Indian Airlines (IA) was merged
into Air India (AI) to form Air India Limited (AIL), the faultlines among its
employees are sharper than ever and threaten to pull the entire airline into an
abyss. Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG), a
union that represents pilots from the erstwhile Air India, are on strike

When formed Air India had ‘Maharaja’ as its logo,
whose hospitality has now touched newest lows, with losses mounting to
thousands of crores year after year; worser still, the market share of the
airline has also slipped terribly. Before
the merger in 2007, Air India
had been profitable for 4 straight years and Indian Airlines for 3 years. After the merger, it has been downhill all
the way, with the combined entity posting increased losses with every passing
year. ‘We call him a Maharajah for want
of a better description. But his blood isn't blue. He may look like royalty, but
he isn't royal.' These are the words of Bobby Kooka, the man who conceived the
Maharajah. The famous figure made its
appearance in Air India
in 1946 when Kooka was the Commercial Director; he, Umesh Rao, an artist with
J.Walter Thompson Ltd., Mumbai, together created the Maharajah. He symbolized grace and high living…. His outsized
moustache was most prominent. Now after 50 years, he is struggling in
existence is indeed sad state of affairs.

Now the merged entity is sucked deep into
losses with the current losses alone estimated around Rs.300 crore. These are losses of ticket cancellations,
unused labour and bulk of Boeing 777 fleet being grounded – reports IANS. From 1 June, the airline will operate only 38
services instead of the regular 45. The airline had decided last week to reduce
fares by placing a large chunk of seats under the lowest fare category to
augment its share in the domestic and international sector. The price reductions, truncation of schedule
whereby seven International destinations including Hong Kong, Osaka,
Seoul and Toronto,
being dropped from the regular routes are loss of face but still measures aimed
to curb the rising losses. That makes
the operations under a contingency plan whence
only a bare minimum number of flights are maintained by clubbing
operations to various destinations in Europe and the United States. Still, Air India
has maintained that it has enough executive pilots to operate long-haul
destinations in the US and Europe.

The ground (or grounded) reality is that the
Pilot’s strike has crippled its operations
and they are even thinking of wet leasing i.e., renting of aircraft with pilots
and cabin crew. The Board has to
urgently decide on the induction date of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into the
carrier’s fleet and a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for employees. Things certainly do not look rosy for the
Indian National Carrier.

Chaudhary Ajit Singh founder member of
Rashtriya Lok Dal is presently the Civil
Aviation Minister. He is the son of former prime minister of India and Jat
leader Choudhary Charan Singh.

In earlier Centuries, there existed dynasties – the eldest
[or sometimes the bravest] son of the King became the King either by process of
handing over by the Father to the son or by removal of father by the
son……… that is what we read in
History.

Surprisingly, this place was once part of the Chola Empire
between the 11th and 14th centuries AD. It became part of the Vijayanagar
Empire in the latter part of 14th century. The region was under the control of
Gandikota Nayaks, governors of the Vijayanagara empire for about two centuries.
The most illustrious ruler during this time was Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu – but
please do not ask, who was the ruler defeated by the YSR – it is Kadapa or Cuddapah District, now known
as YSR Kadapa District from July 2010, renamed in honour of Y. S.
Rajasekhara Reddy, a former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh who was a native
of the district and who was popularly known by his initials
"YSR".

There is high drama in parts of Andhra; some members of his
family have gone on a hunger strike to protest his arrest. Police have enforced prohibitory orders
banning assembly of 5 or more people. Undaunted
by the disruption of their two-hour protest, Reddy’s family members are now
sitting outside the premises of their house, surrounded by a throng of
supporters. They also say that they will fast until he is released. The Party has called for a daylong Andhra
Pradesh shutdown Monday to protest the arrest

In the 9th LS Elections [1989-91], YS Rajashekar Reddy won the Cuddapah seat on behalf of
Indian National Congress; he represented the constituency in Tenth; Eleventh;
Twelfth; 13th; 14th – in the 15th, it
was his only son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who got relected in 2011 also. But he resigned his Congress seat, contested
for his own party YSR Congress party in May 2011 in the by-elections and won
with a historic margin of 5,21,000 votes while his mother Y S Vijaya Lakshmi
won with a majority of 85,191 votes in Pulivendula Assembly constituency. Jagan
Mohan polled 6,55,496 votes and won by a margin of 5,21,000 votes which is a
record in the state's history.

Dynasty rule is nothing new to Indian Centre and States –
Nehru, Indira, Rajiv and Congress (with Sonia); M Karunanidhi (Maran, Stalin,
Alagiri, Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran….); Charan Singh – Ajit Singh, Mulayam
Singh Yadav – Akilesh Yadav; - only a few in a long list of examples……… from a
small-time businessman to a formidable political leader, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy
-- better known as Jagan -- had a rather smooth ride for over a decade before
hitting one bump after another and finally finding himself in CBI custody. According to his election affidavit, Jagan
Reddy is India’s
richest Member of Parliament with declared assets (net of liabilities) valued
at Rs 365 crore. His wife has properties, cash and jewellery worth Rs 47.25
crore (net of liabilities). That a mere MP can accumulate so much wealth is
anyway cause for concern; that he has not disclosed all his assets – often held
by proxies – shows how the powerful manipulate the system to accumulate wealth
for their own ends. It is not of what he
owns but more of the fact that Jagan has
misled the Commission about his assets. For example, he did not declare his
palatial houses in Hyderabad and Bangalore worth over Rs
200 crore. After three days of intense
questioning,CBI has arrested Jagan on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and falsification of accounts of the
IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency is investigating what is being called the Jagan assets
case on the Andhra Pradesh high courts directive in July 2011.The court order
was in response to a PIL by a Congress MLA.

The rise and emergence of the only son of the late Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S
Rajasekhara Reddy, has been phenomenal. From a
tiny power company Sandur in Karnataka, it has exploded in to many
states including North eastern states.
His business graph rose meteorically once his father became the state
Chief Minister in 2004 and Jagan started venturing into many other businesses
including cement plants, infrastructure and media. His father’s tragic death in
a helicopter crash in Sept 2009 has literally changed everything. He wanted the CM’s throne but Congress High
command was unwilling. The disillusioned
rebelled and went on 'Odarpu Yatra' path to build his political career
independently, much to the discomfiture of the ruling party. In no time, Jagan's popularity graph shot
upwards while that of the ruling Congress' dipped gradually.

When Kiran kumar reddy became the CM in Nov 2010, Jagan
came out of Congress fold and started his own party. Now in a political move, he is trapped in
disproportionate asset case and arrested
by CBI. The speed with which his
assets have been acquired is under CBI scanner now. Whether such cases
conclude and that too in any timeframe is anybody’s guess and has a wealth of
history !!

Kadapa, formerly Cuddapah, is in Rayalseema, a region
considered to be hot and arid. The name
reportedly originated from ‘Gadapa’ meaning threshold or gate – the gateway
from the West to the most Sacred Hill of Thirumala. Legend has it that Kishkindakanda occurred
in Vontimitta in Kadapa.

Nothing wrong with
this photo – it was a game 10 years ago and do not know why this man was trying his
hand at bowling – yesterday the World came to know more of him –

...........but before you
read anything – what would people do from today………. Is it not too difficult to be at home,
watching nothing, after seeing so much of action.

That man is -
Manvinder Sultansingh Bisla, from Haryana and you now know who he is – basking
in glory being the Man of the Match in the high profile finals. History beckoned him even as he got a
late-door entry. Laximipathy Balaji on
whom Gambhir depended so much was down with injury, in his place Bret Lee was brought in; a
foreigner had to be dropped – axe fell on Brendon McCullum [it looked a faulty
move at that time !] – KKR had to accommodate a wicket keeper, in came Bisla,
who has had a good tournament thus far.
Manoj Tiwary came in place of Debabrata Das – 3 changes !!!

It started very much
the Chennai way – the feared Brett Lee went for 42 in his 4; Shakib Al Hasan
25/3; Sunil Naraine went for 37 off 4; Kallis 34 in 4; Bhatia 23 in 3 and Yusuf given the only over
against left handers went for 17. CSK
finishing at 190 for 3 and in the very
first over Hilfenhaus removed the feared Gautam Gambhir off his last
delivery. So it looked a regular ending
and expectations that more people would today talk of match-fixing and
Srinivasan having his way, matches ending the way he wants to be !!!!! Bisla made 89 off 48 and by the time he got
out, the match, the match was firmly in the hands of KKR – though fans at
Chepauk would still expecting things to turn in their favour. The experience of Jacques Kallis took them
home, though in between Yusuf Pathan launched the ball to the moon, but could
not clear mid wicket and perhaps ended his chances of getting into Indian team
for T20 WC. Knight Riders had rode on
Gambhir and Sunil Naraine to reach the finals – both failed, yet they won
speaks of their balance.

Sunil Naraine was
picked as Player of the Season and he spoke of being picked by the WI for
playing in England ! - the leading run
scorer was Chris Gayle and most wickets was Morne Morkel – his brother Albie
Morkel collected the award on his behalf…………….. but the prize of the best catch
(Karbon kamal……) went to David Hussey,
Michael Hussey was very much there – he was not called, but an official
collected the award on DJ’s behalf !!
- the little known, Mandeep Singh
of Kings XI was the Rising Star of the
tournament. He thanked Vikram
Rathour. Who ?? - in June 1996 at Edgbaston he made his debut
in a Test along with : RC Irani, AD Mullally and MM Patel (England); SB Joshi,
PL Mhambrey, BKV Prasad and V Rathour (India).
That was not Munaf Musa Patel, but
Minal Mahesh Patel, a left arm spinner, who played for England in 2
Tests both against India.

[photos above : source : www.cricinfo.com]

At Chepauk the celebrations went on and on and there were
never ending interviews with Shah Rukh Khan doing whatever he was not allowed
to do at Wankhede including few tumbles.
There were so many and Wasim Akram the bowling coach said - "I have
won World Cup for Pakistan, but this is very different feeling. I am very
happy. Knowing our owner SRK, it is going to be a madhouse." - no comments required on this.

In May 2009 Deccan
Chargers 143 for 6 (Gibbs 53*, Kumble 4-16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore
137 for 9 (Ojha 3-28, Symonds 2-18) by six runs
- that Indian Premier League was in South Africa – at New Wanderers, Johannesburg

To conclude with an
unconnected news, Nagaland state government has built a new cricket stadium
in Dimapur. The Sovima Cricket Stadium, built at a cost of Rs. 10.33 crores, is
the second cricket ground in the north-east region of India after Guwahati in
Assam. The stadium, which took eight
months to build, will allow young players to train in Nagaland, as opposed to
having to travel to Guwahati and other places for matches and coaching
camps. So, get ready to hear a few new
names from the North East in the next version of IPL

Before we conclude, yesterday, it was a test of
leadership and not necessarily the winning captain won that… in Gautam Gambhir Vs Mahendra Singh Dhoni –
it was a clash of leaders with different personalities. Even though unusually, Dhoni talked to
Hilfenhaus many a times during the last over, he must be appreciated for his
unflappable self during ups and downs – he is one person who never throws
tantrums, never stares at his fielder when he misfields, never shouts when the
bowler strays down the leg – as a leader he inspires and puts a lot of emphasis on the players going and enjoying the
game, and expressing themselves. Gambhir
also led by personal example and style, he did fail in the finals is a
different story – he has been intense and combative, stating that you step on
the field to win and not to be ncie, could barely control his temper at the
press conference, strongly criticising the bumbling middle-order and asking
them to take more responsibility in an earlier match when they lost. There was also a tiff with Mahela Jayawardene
over a disputed catch, the sort of incident Dhoni is unlikely to be involved in.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

On a
Saturday evening [26th May 2012] browsing www.dailymail.co.uk made me read about a new place and of a wonder
kid. Have never
heard of or was interested to know of Dresden –it is the Capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is
situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border.

Away,
there was a boy who was more interested
in making mechanical devices than in
studying. He made a windmill which could grind wheat and corn, and he made a
water clock and a sundial. His teachers thought of him as a poor student. He
wanted to go to college, but he didn't have the money to go. He enrolled at the
lowest entry. In this position he had to serve the other students by running
errands for them. He even ate the leftovers of their meals, but he would do
anything to get an opportunity to learn. Even when he was in college, he was
not outstanding and received no awards. When
the university shut down because of the plague, he went home and continued to
study on his own. He had a notebook with 140 blank pages and he began to fill
them with notes as he read and experimented. His childlike curiosity led him to make some
very important discoveries when he became a man. Within a period of a year and
half he made three great discoveries.

With this
lengthy introductory passage, it may not be easy to identify that genius but a
single word would do – yes the word “Apple”. Often it is quoted
that one day when he was drinking tea in the garden, he saw an apple fall to
the ground. He started thinking about why it fell, and finally concluded that
the same force which caused the apple to fall also kept the moon in orbit
around the earth. This same force, gravity, * also kept the planets in orbit
around the sun.

That is
- Sir Isaac Newton [1642 – 1727] an eminent physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural
philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many
to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived. His monograph
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, lays the
foundations for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described
universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the
scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. The
Principia is generally considered to be one of the most important scientific
books ever written, due, independently, to the specific physical laws the work
successfully described, and for the style of the work, which assisted in
setting standards for scientific publication down to the present time.

But for
nearly 350 years after his findings, Scientists have confounded and were not
able to calculate the flight path of a ball and also could not predict how it
will hit and bounce off a wall. Previously it had only been possible to
estimate this using a computer, wrote the paper. Now a 16 year old genius has cracked the
puzzle and [in our nature of finding something related to us – he has an Indian
connection]

Dailymail
and many other papers now have the news of the genius school boy from Dresden,
Germany. He is only 16 and has managed to crack puzzles which have baffled
the world of Maths for more than 350 years.
His name is Shouryya Ray and he
is hailed a genius after working out the
problems set by Sir Isaac Newton. He has
solved two fundamental particle dynamics
theories which physicists have previously been able to calculate only by using
powerful computers.

Ray reportedly
first came across the old problem when his secondary school, which specializes
in science, set all their year-11 pupils a research project. On a visit to the Technical University in
Dresden pupils received raw data to evaluate a direct numerical simulation –
which can be used to describe the trajectory of a ball when it is thrown. When he realised the current method could not
get an exact result, Ray decided to have a go at solving it. He puts the whole
thing down to “schoolboy naivety” - he just refused to accept there was no
answer to the problem. “I asked myself:
why can’t it work?” he told the paper.

Ray has
been fascinated by what he calls the “intrinsic beauty“ of maths since an early
age, according to the report. The boy was inspired by his engineer father who
began setting him arithmetic problems at the age of six. He could
crack the puzzle and his solutions mean that scientists can now
calculate the flight path of a thrown ball and then predict how it will hit and
bounce off a wall.

Though he
reported to have begun solving
complicated equations as a six year old but says he's no genius – and that
itself perhaps is a hallmark of a genius. Daily mail reports that when he was young, his father, an engineer, began
testing his brain by setting him arithmetic problems. After arriving from Calcutta four years ago
without knowing any German, Shouryya is now fluent in the language. His intelligence was quickly noted in class
and he was pushed up two years in school - he is currently sitting his exams
early. Modestly Shouryya has pointed out
he was weak points as a mathematician, and says he is not as competent in
sport.

Often one gets confused with a simple Question – is it the Crime
that is worse, or its intention, or its severity i.e., based on what happened. In a simple analogy, when a dog chases a man,
you fear its ferocity and try to hit it with a stone or club with a stick –
would not wait to be bitten, to find out how worse it is and then punish the
dog accordingly.

Sec 378 of Indian
Penal code states “ -Whoever, intending
to take dishonestly any movable property out of the possession of any person
without that person's consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is
said to commit theft.” The common law
burglary as defined by Sir Matthew Hale is :
“ The breaking and entering the house of
another in the night time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony
be actually committed or not.”

Thus it would appear that it is intent and not
what actually transpired that would make it a crime !!. In April 2010, a small gang of Somali pirates
fired on the USS Nicholas. It was no
ordinary vessel, a frigate of US, the third ship of the United States Navy to
be named after Major Samuel Nicholas,
the first commanding officer of the United States Marines. A third-generation
guided missile frigate, she was launched
23 April 1983. On April 1, 2010,
Nicholas lit to look like a merchant vessel,
came under fire from Somali pirates
while deployed in the waters off of East Africa near the coast of Kenya and Somalia conducting anti-piracy
operations. Nicholas seized five pirates, sank their skiff and captured a
pirate mother ship. The pirates were
tried in the U.S.
and convicted of piracy, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

The group of men on a skiff fired AK-47s at the ship and launched
rocket-propelled grenades into the air, but they never managed to board capture
or seize the Navy frigate.On appeal, the men argued that their actions did not
meet the definition of piracy under the
law. They pointed to the Supreme Court's
1820 decision in United
States v. Smith, which defined piracy as robbery at sea. The crime of piracy is defined by the law of
nations with reasonable certainty. Robbery or forcible depredation upon the
sea, anima furandi*, is piracy by the law of nations and by the act of
Congress. It was argued that Piracy was only
a sea term for robbery, piracy being a robbery committed within the
jurisdiction of the admiralty.

Animus furandi is a Latin term which means the
‘intention to steal.’ In order to constitute a crime of larceny, the thief
must take the property animo furandi.

There is news from UAE quoting ‘Iran and an American-led naval coalition’
each said Thursday they responded to a distress call by a U.S.-flagged cargo
ship that came under fire from gunmen in the Gulf of Oman a day earlier. Armed guards aboard the 488-foot (148-meter)
Maersk Texas thwarted the attack northeast of
the Emirati port
of Fujairah, Danish
shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk said. The attack is reported to have happened not far from the
tense waters of the Strait of Hormuz, a key
transit point for a fifth of the world's oil.
A.P. Moller-Maersk is reported as stating that armed attackers in
"multiple pirate skiffs" raced straight toward the ship around noon
Wednesday despite clear warning signals from the Texas. Guards on board fired warning shots,
but the suspected pirates opened fire, prompting ship guards to shoot back at
them, according to the shipping line. No
one on the Texas
were reported to have been injured in
the incident. Meantime, Iranian news
agencies reported that the suspected pirates fled when Iran's navy
intervened after responding to an emergency call from the American ship.

It is reported that the full facts of the event have yet to
be fully ascertained and Piracy has to
be judged according to a number of factors. The spokesperson declined to say who the
attackers might have been if not pirates, though he noted that fishermen and
smugglers frequent the area. The Combined Maritime Forces is a naval
partnership including more than two dozen nations that operates in and around
the Middle East. It is commanded by a U.S.
Navy admiral. While the Iranian aid to
the Texas is
not acknowledged to have been real, reports suggest that such assistance would
not necessarily be out of the ordinary. It
is claimed that when a vessel is in distress and its distress call is heard,
the immediate response is to help. It is
further stated that American ships have occasionally come to the aid of Iranian
merchant vessels in similar circumstances.

That is recent news – getting back to Apr 2010 incident when small gang of
Somali pirates fired on the USS Nicholas. After a pursuit, naval forces
captured the pirates and transported them back to the United States
to face piracy and related charges. The men were found guilty and convicted to
life in prison, the punishment for piracy, plus 80 years. On appeal, the men
argued that their actions did not meet the definition of piracy under the law. In a latest pronounced verdict, U.S. federal appeals court made clear that the
definition of piracy includes violent attempts to hijack a ship, even if
unsuccessful, and upheld convictions against five Somali pirates. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based
in Richmond, Virginia,
upheld what federal prosecutors described as the first U.S. piracy
convictions in 190 years, finding that an individual does not have to seize or
rob a ship to commit piracy. The court
rejected a bid by five Somali men to overturn their convictions for attacking a
U.S. Navy ship they mistook for a merchant vessel in 2010.

On 23rd May 12, the Three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit unanimously stated that
piracy would include violent unsuccessful attempts. The Fourth Circuit made clear that anyone who
attempts an armed hijacking of another vessel on the high seas is a pirate
under U.S.
law.